TSA Opt Out And Film Week Garners National Attention

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November 16, 2012 @ 11:28 am
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“Just say no” to humiliation and abuse this Thanksgiving

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
November 16, 2012

WIth just three days to go until the Opt Out & Film campaign begins, the effort to stand up to the TSA is garnering national attention, with consumer advocate Chris Elliott throwing his support behind a move to “just say no” to invasive screening procedures.

Writing for the Huffington Post[1], Elliott points to the Infowars campaign (infowars.com/optout[2]) as a way to “Slow screenings to the point where the agency will have to reconsider the way it checks air travelers, as it did during a successful opt-out action two years ago.”

Pointing out the fact that airport body scanners pose a major health threat, are useless at detecting foreign objects, haven’t caught a single terrorist, and represent an unconstitutional violation of privacy, Elliott emphasizes that, “In order to end the warrantless scans for good, we need to stand up at the same time and say “no” even after Opt-Out Week ends. We need to do it until the TSA changes the way it screens us.”

Saying no to the TSA represents a real solution, a form of civil disobedience that has a real chance of success given the fact that the TSA has been forced to roll back the invasiveness of its screening procedures in recent months, notably by mothballing 91 of its dangerous x-ray body scanning machines[3].

Crucially, although the TSA has proven that it cares little for health or privacy concerns, the reason given for scrapping these machines is that they took too long to screen passengers. The message is therefore clear – the only way to change the TSA’s policies is to slow their screening process to a crawl. Opting out the the body scan is one way to do that.

For those who claim that the answer is simply to boycott the airlines and not fly, the truth is that you are part of the problem, not the solution. Trading one right for another – the right to mobility for the right to privacy – is not a winning strategy. In that equation you are only losing rights and handing the authoritarians a victory.

Besides, the TSA is now rapidly expanding beyond the airports, to highways, bus depots, subways, train stations, pop concerts, political events and even high school prom nights.

The Digital Journal also reported[4] on the campaign this week, with columnist Elliott Freeman noting how the campaign represents, “A direct response to the implementation of potentially harmful body scanners, invasive pat-downs and other objectionable TSA policies that have led to public outcries for change.”

Unless Americans stand up in unison and say the buck stops here – enough is enough – then who knows where we could end up in 5 or 10 years time. Given that a shocking number of Americans, one third in total according to a recent national poll[5], are willing to undergo a full body cavity search or wear and electric shock bracelet in order to fly, the cost of backing down now is terrifying for anyone who values their dignity and freedom.

Opting out of the TSA and filming their activities however is not just restricted to the issue of body scanners.

As the Infowars.com opt out page highlights[2], this campaign is also about saying no to the TSA’s ridiculous ‘obedience training’ policies, opting out of the agency’s invasive pat downs, which now include touching people’s genitals, as well as filming the TSA’s pat down procedure (which the TSA’s own website admits[6] is perfectly legal).

Infowars is also encouraging people to hand out flyers to other travelers to educate them about their rights and urge them to participate in the opt out campaign. You can download our flyer here[7] or feel free to create your own.

Please go to infowars.com/optout[2] or visit the campaign’s Facebook page[8] to get involved in the effort which begins on Monday and throughout Thanksgiving week. It is crucial that you film your TSA encounter and upload the video to You Tube with the tag ‘opt out’ or with ‘TSA Opt Out’ somewhere in the headline. Please email your video links towatson-paul3@sky.com[9] and they will be featured on Infowars.com.

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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com[10] and Prison Planet.com[11]. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.